3/2/15 Governance Council Meeting Minutes

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Members Present: Virginia Trujillo, President

Charles Lakins, Vice President

Chris Velasquez, Secretary

Lori Hagen, Member

John Everette, Parent (Elected this meeting)

Members Not Present: Jim Freese, Member

Maxine Mora, Member

Guests: Mary Tarango, Principal

Rita Hirschy, Business Specialist

Trish Payne, Parent

David Hood, Parent

Judy Bergs, APS Finance

 

Meeting called to Order at 6:30 pm

Roll Call

  • 4 Members present, 2 absent, quorum established.  5 Guests (two parents)

 

Approval of Previous Governance Council (GC) Meeting Minutes

  • Review Jan 26, 2015 meeting minutes, no edits:

    • Motion to approve minutes – Charles Lakins

    • 2nd – Lori Hagen

    • Passed unanimously

Action on John Everette

  • Guest John Everette expressed interest in joining the Council and briefly discussed his background and motivations for serving.  John has been present at 2 previous GC meetings.

    • Motion to nominate John Everette to Governance Council – Lori Hagen

    • 2nd – Charles Lakins

    • Passed unanimously

 

Motion to Change Agenda

  • Charles Lakins requested a change to the agenda to move ‘Old Business – Appointment of committees’ to beginning of agenda to accommodate parent guests:

    • Motion to change agenda – Lori Hagen

    • 2nd – Charles Lakins

    • Passed unanimously

Old Business – Appointment of Finance Committee and Audit Committee

  • David Hood and Trish Payne expressed interest in being in Audit committee.  They both presented their background and experience.  Ms. Payne has a law degree and served on other boards.  Mr. Hood has experience in accounting and government contracts.

  • Virginia Trujillo appointed David Hood and Trish Payne to Audit Committee.

  • Finance Committee will include Lori Hagen and Chris Velasquez as GC members.  Audit Committee will include Charles Lakins and John Everette as GC members. Budget needs to be approved by Council by 25 April 2015.

  • Discussion on what bylaws indicate for duties of Audit committee and Finance committee.  Finance committee presents and develops budget, Audit committee is mostly involved during yearly audit activities.  More details in bylaws.

School Finances (see Financial Agenda Packet attached – as of 31 January 2014)

  • Financial Statements for Review submitted.  Nothing out of the ordinary to report.  Expenditures report indicated that the Operational budget balance is in the black $100k, down a bit from previous due to some budgetary items that changed out of our control.  For example:  PARCC test will be approximately $5,000 when we were told it was going to be no charge.  Unemployment compensation percentage increased, was not in budget, increased from approximately 1.4% to approximately 5.32%.

  • Bank Reconciliation Reports submitted for review.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

  • Payroll & Accounts Payable Disbursements submitted for approval.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

    • Motion to approve Accounts Payable disbursements – Lori Hagen

    • 2nd – Charles Lakins

    • Passed Unanimously

  • Two (2) Maintenance, One (1) Increase, and One (1) Initial Budget BARs submitted for approval.

    • 2 Maintenance BARs submitted to align Operational Fund budget with increase in benefit costs in Services and Instructional functions. $0 net change in both BARs.

    • Increase BAR submitted to increase Operational Fund budget with cash assistance from Foundation.  $4,500 net increase.

    • Initial BAR submitted for initiation of a Target School Grant fund with cash from an award received from Scholarship America to Ms. Drawbond.  $500 net increase.

    • Motion to approve BARS – John Everette (his first motion!)

    • 2nd – Lori Hagen

    • Passed Unanimously

  • Three (3) Requests for Reimbursements submitted for review.  Lease assistance award and IDEA-B submitted.  Recruiting and GO Bond Libraries not submitted yet.  Authorization from PED received to obligate funds for GO Bond Libraries.  Mary discussed a sampling of items approved to submit for GO Bond Libraries.

 

Open Forum

  • Rita Hirschy suggested fixing our open meetings protocol to allow public to find agenda items, meeting minutes, etc. easier.  Right now, website has the data, but is quite difficult to find.  Mr. Peckens will come to our next meeting to discuss best way to show this data on the website.

  • Critical to have another meeting this month to get budget ready for approval by GC.  GC also needs documented training.  Assistant Attorney General offers free training on open meetings and is an option.  Mark Tolley and Judy Bergs are also willing to do budget training.

Principal’s Report:

  • Mary Tarango submitted her report for the record, see attached report.

  • 80th / 120th day enrollment count average was 251.5, target was 250.

  • 4 students submitted PARCC opt out forms (12 students = 5% for our school).  No issues.

  • Snow damage to tent and leakage in the building.  Pictures taken for insurance.

  • Lottery update – currently full for 6th, 7th and 8th grades.  3 slots available for 5th grade.

New Business

  • No new business

Next Meeting

  • Monday March 16 – 5 pm start time Finance Committee, 6pm start time regular GC meeting.

  • Monday March 30 – 5 pm start time for Finance committee only.

  • Thursday April 16 – 5 pm start time for Budget approval meeting with GC budget training.

 

Motion to adjourn – Lori Hagen

  • 2nd – John Everette

  • Passed unanimously.

 

Meeting Adjourned at 8:21pm